Early for Two
by HilaryHilary
Summary: Great changes befall Brooke, Lucas and Nathan and Haley, so Peyton was just naive to expect her and Jake to stay the same. This is the sequel to 'Sacrifice' and prelude to 'Chasing Fate' and to 'Life and Cherry Tomatoes' . COMPLETE
1. Chapter One

Early for Two

"I can't go. I'm going to have to stay here," claimed Brooke dramatically. She was sitting cross legged on her bed, her hair tied messily tied back, her face free of makeup, looking decidedly unBrooke.

"You can go. You'll have a great time," I said soothingly.

"I can't! The only reason I wanted to go was to meet guys, anyway," she said.

I sighed and flopped onto the bed beside her. It was past midnight, the day before she was leaving for Vassar. She'd been perfectly fine during our day together but had called me out of bed in panic.

"Don't you want to go away and be independent? Don't you want to get out of this place?" I asked her.

"I should've gotten married. You are, and you don't have to leave," she said accusingly.

"Brooke! Haley and Nathan are moving to California!" I reminded her.

"Mouth will probably take one glance at a big city slut and leave me," she said.

"Have you met Mouth? For that matter, have you _seen _Mouth? And why would he prefer big city sluts to small town sluts?" I asked. She glared at me and wrung our her hands anxiously.

"I'm not ready! Please let me stay home with you!" she said. It occurred to me that she was acting like she was talking to her mommy the day before the first day of school.

"You are ready! You've been ready for a while," I reminded her.

"I'm not ready! I need to stay home," she whined.

"You've been continually telling me how bored you've gotten with home for three months now," I said. My eyelids fluttered closed. I had been sick lately, throwing up and needing lots of sleep.

"You shouldn't be here. You're so sick, and that's been going on for months," she reminded me.

"Like a little less than a month. Remember it started pretty soon after prom, when he wasn't even around?" I asked her.

"Yeah. Let's go out," she requested. "Just one last time."

"I shouldn't. I don't think getting drunk when I'm sick is a good idea," I said.

"Especially considering last time," she said. Last time we'd gone out I'd gotten my husband, Jake's, jersey number tattooed on the small of my back.

"It turned out okay," I said sleepily.

"I wonder if Luke will find anyone at school?" she asked, looking sideways at me. Luke was my first love. He'd almost broken up my marriage, but part of me wanted him to find someone none the less.

"Come on, he's him," I said. I glanced guiltily at her. Brooke and I had been best friends since forever, but he'd almost broken up our friendship when he'd begun to date Brooke and then me simultaneously. She had been in the dark about this-I had not. We were fine now though. I was married to Jake and acted as a mother to his daughter, and she was happily dating Mouth, a geeky boy who worshipped her. It was the first time she'd ever been friends with a boy before dating him-before she'd begun to date Luke, she'd just flirted constantly with him.

"I'm going to get lonely Peyton! I'm going to have to make new friends!" she whined again.

"You're not going to be that lonely, Mouth will be there," I reminded her. But she was determined to be miserable.

"Yes, but hadn't we already decided that he was going to fall for a New York whore?" she demanded.

"Brooke. Mouth. Is. In. Love. With. You." I said, slowly and clearly. She shrugged.

"I'm going to miss you and Tutor Girl so much," she said.

"I'm going to miss her too. I don't know what I'll do without you guys," I said, voicing my fears about being without my two best friends for the first time.

"You have Jake, who's always going to be there. And you have Jenny. You guys will continue to be perfect family together and you'll love it, Mrs. Jagielski," she said, slightly bitterly. Brooke envied Jake and me, I knew, for our marriage, which had started out so rocky. It had only been three months, but her parent's marriage had never been strong.

"Yeah, but there's a lot of things I can't talk to Jake about. And even more things that I can't talk to Jenny about," I defended myself.

"Yeah. Like the new guy you like, or the sex you had, or the… oh, wait, no you aren't allowed to do any of that," she said. A wave of nausea swept through me. To steady myself I got up off the bed and walked to her desk. Her mirror was over it. It was adorned with pictures. I saw me, her, Haley, Brooke, Nathan, Luke and Jake. Mouth also began to star. I saw all of us on Prom night. I saw a group shot. An old photo of Brooke and me and Haley as cheerleaders. Luke and Nathan being brotherly in their basketball jerseys. I saw lots of pictures of Nathan and Haley just after they'd gotten married, at their wedding party in our junior year. I saw me and Haley and Brooke on my wedding day, holding my daughter Jenny. Had it only been three months ago?

"I'm going to miss everything," she said. I walked back to her and hugged her to me.

"Nothing's going to happen. You're going to come back in November and everything will be exactly the same. Jenny will probably start some kind of day care, but Jake and me will be totally normal, Haley and Nathan will probably come and visit, being just slightly more tanned. We're not going to be any different," I promised.

Famous last words.

_Author's note: Okay, so maybe I couldn't bring myself to wait for this. Read 'Sacrifice' if you haven't, this is the sequel._


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Brooke's face looks back to us as she, her car, and her boyfriend head away from Tree Hill, her things following her in a trailer. She waves until she rounds the corner and disappears from sight. I glance sideways at Peyton, who's tearing up.

"I can't believe I didn't tell her," I said, beginning to cry myself.

"It's okay Haley. Brooke had other things to worry about right now, and if you told her she might not have left," she said comfortingly. I began to tear up too-I was getting so emotional. Was that a sign?

"But she's my best friend. She deserves to know," I countered.

"Nathan should know first," she reminded me. My husband, Nathan, did deserve to know first.

"Yeah, but you and Jake already know. And I don't want to tell Nathan until I'm sure," I said.

"How sure are you?"

"I skipped last month but I didn't really take it into account, because I've skipped before-and I've lost a lot of weight, you know?" I glanced at my tiny waist-before I'd gone on tour and become a celebrity, I'd been more healthy looking. "But then I found my old pill package and noticed the pill and counted back and realized it was a day that we'd definitely done it, and I should have started yesterday, but I didn't," I said worriedly.

"Haley we have to go do a test," she said. She'd been putting it off. "You're just lucky you're already married."

I was lucky. An odd coincidence was that we were both married, and both teenagers. She was eighteen, my birthday was in October. I was too young for this-Nathan was too. Nathan and I had gotten married as Juniors and then broken it off for a year when I'd run away to New York to pursue a singing dream-it had only been about three months since I'd come back. Peyton had married her husband, Jake, to put a custody battle in their favour.

"Fine," I said warily. She nodded and we both got into her car.

I felt awkward, giving the test to the man who was at the checkout counter, but glad I had my ring on my finger. He didn't comment on my purchase, just told me the total and bagged it.

"Are you sure you don't want to do this with Nate?" she asked, glancing down at the fate changing purchase.

"Yes," I whispered. We drove to her house, we knew it'd be empty. I stared at the leafy scenery-Nathan and I were planning on leaving Tree Hill in less than a month for California. It was the right thing for his job but I knew I wasn't ready to leave home so thoroughly-after all, I was only seventeen. I wasn't even a legal adult. Until recently I'd been under the legal control of my parents, even though they were never around. Now, creepily, I was fairly sure that Nathan was my guardian in a way. I preferred not to think about that.

Peyton waited nervously outside the door as I used the test, and entered as soon as I told her I was done.

"How long do we have to wait?" she asked as soon as she'd come in.

"About five more minutes," I said, glancing at my watch. Actually, I knew for a fact that it was four minutes and forty seven seconds. Forty six.

"You're probably not," she said.

"Yeah. I could have just skipped two periods, been constantly nauseous and have been having ridiculous chocolate cravings because of one great big coincidence," I shot back. She nodded gravely.

"Having a baby… I mean I don't know about the giving birth process, but I know that having one isn't so bad. Especially now that we're out of school," she said. We were just barely out of high school but we didn't particularly need to work, Nathan and I. My career had left me very wealthy.

"How's Nathan going to react?" I wondered aloud.

"He'll be fantastic. He'll freak out slightly and then support you completely, because it's the kind of guy he is and always will be," she said comfortingly. My husband was that kind of guy.

"He's not Dan Scott," I added. Dan Scott, Lucas and Nathan's dad, had abandoned Lucas after he was born to Karen, his high school sweetheart. He'd then married his college girlfriend, Deb, and his second child was born three months after his first.

"He'll never be Dan," she said comfortingly. The next two minutes passed in agony. As the buzzer on my watch went off, I looked at the device sitting innocently on the counter. I reached for it, pulled my hand away.

"I can't. Please?" I begged her. Slowly she reached out and stared at the screen.

"Positive," she said quietly, turning the device so I could see the two red lines, bold as anything.

I felt the colour drain from my face and slowly sank to the floor, crouching with my head on my knees. My hands found my stomach-a baby was growing there? It had been for two months? How was that possible? A surge of dizziness came, one to rival the intense nausea. In an instant she was on the floor beside me, her arms around me in comfort. I had done the right thing, going to her. Brooke wasn't levelheaded enough for it.

"How are you going to tell him?" she asked, after a long silence.

"Tonight. I'll just tell him, plain and simple. He'll probably stutter something, go out, get wasted, come back and be perfect for the next seven months," I said dully.

"Yeah. I hope so," she said. The look that flickered across her eyes made me wonder if she was thinking about kids for herself. Surprising the both of us, I burst suddenly into tears.

My thoughts flicked to Brooke. Already she felt like the odd one out because although she had a serious boyfriend, Peyton and I were both married. Peyton already had a child, which had distanced her from us before. In seven months, when we both had kids, would it be even harder for us to relate to Brooke? This was one of the many reasons I'd made the difficult decision not to tell her before she left for school.

"What are you going to call it?" asked Peyton, interrupting my tears. I looked at her-before she'd befriended me the only good friend I'd had was Luke, my best friend of those days. She had been my first good girlfriend and had taught me most of the things I knew about being a teenage girl. She'd also been incredible to me, let me dump my problems on her as she dumped hers on mine. She'd even been supportive when I'd begun to date the then bad boy-her ex, Nathan.

"If it's a girl I'm calling it Peyton," I promised her. I'd always liked her original name.

"I can't believe I'm going to miss all this when you move!" she said suddenly. I'd have liked to be near her when I did have it-she who knew so much about it. Jake would have been helpful as well, to Nathan and to me.

"I don't want to leave the apartment," I said sadly. The apartment meant to much to me-Nathan had first taken me there as a bride, I'd lost my virginity there, left him there, come back to him. It was within those walls that I'd become accepted of the highest social circle. And now I'd have to leave it, for a job offer and for my baby.

"Luke will be it's Uncle," she said thoughtfully.

"Yeah. I'll admit that I hoped he and Brooke would hook up, so we'd all be related, but…" I trailed off.

"In some ways I see what you mean-we've all paired off except for them, but she's so happy with Mouth and he's so in love with her. And honestly, though Luke is a good friend, he's a spectacularly bad boyfriend," she said.

"I haven't really experienced that, but I get it. God, I still have to deal with Chris," I said sadly. Chris had been the one to convince me to go on tour in the first place and he'd shown up again recently and still hadn't left.

"It doesn't really matter. I mean you're moving, right?" she said.

"And I guess even to him, having a husband isn't a strong enough reason to stay home but maybe having a baby is?" I wondered. It was easy to wonder about the logic of Chris.

"Who knows?"

"It's so weird! Now that I know I have an incredible desire to get drunk and I haven't been drunk in over a year!" I exclaimed. It was a good thing too, because apparently a baby had been inside of me for two whole months.

"That sucks," she said sympathetically.

"It's the kind of thing Brooke would have suggested-to go relieve stress, you know?" I remarked. Peyton stifled a giggle.

"I miss Brooke."

"Me too! It's so weird, because I used to hate her and after we became friends we didn't talk for a year but now we're as close as you and I!" I said.

"Brooke's like that. She seems like there's nothing going on with her except cheerleading and popularity but there's so much more to her that she just doesn't show."

"Yeah. She's probably start to call me Tutor-Mommy if I was still around," I said wearily.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"The Tim is in the house!" said Tim gleefully. I rolled my eyes-at eighteen, we were too old for NBA live, but he didn't seem to think so.

"Shut up Tim," I said wearily. I glanced outside-I was expecting my wife, Haley, to come home soon so Tim could go home. Sometimes Tim didn't realize that this wasn't his home.

"So where's Holly?" he asked, his attention completely focused on the screen.

"_Haley_ is with Peyton and Brooke," I said. He'd called her worse things.

"Brooke left this morning," reminded Tim. He looked oddly wistful for a second.

"She's too good for you. And yes, they went to see her off or something," I said.

"Her standards aren't as high-that Mouth guy is a total twig. And anyway, she never went out with you either," said Tim. I laughed.

"Okay, I'll give you that. But out of the three of them, widely acknowledged as Tree Hill's best, I've gone out with two of them. And you?" I said. Tim occasionally brought out the worst in me.

"Hey," said a female voice from the door. We both turned quickly-Haley. I smiled at her and noticed Tim gawking. She noticed too.

"Ew. Tim, look away. Nathan I need to talk to you," she said. She wasn't smiling.

"Tim, go home."

"Why? I don't have anything to do at home," he whined.

"Then go swimming. I don't mind, we just need to talk," I said, indicating Haley. He pouted but left and she came to stand stiffly in front of me. I took her arm and pulled her onto my lap. Wearily she rested her head on my chest.

"I have news," she said nervously.

"Hales you know how much I love you, right?" I said worriedly.

"And I love you!" she said.

"Right. So you can tell me anything," I said.

"Wait. Is this about Chris?" I demanded.

"No! It's about us!" she said. I relaxed.

"Okay. You're doing that thing where you know you have to tell me but you don't want to and you're hoping I'm going to guess so that you don't have to say it, but I have no idea what you're talking about. So just say it-I won't be mad," I said gently. She nodded and took a deep breath.

"I think I'm pregnant."

"You think," I said, trying as hard as I could to keep my voice at its normal pitch. Pregnant. With a baby. A baby we'd have to take care of.

"I know. I've skipped twice and you know I've been throwing up and today I took a test when I was at Peyton and Jake's," she said. She looked worried for my sake-how could she not be worried for hers. She jumped up.

"Hey, do you need something? A glass of water, a paper bag?" she asked.

"No, I'm good. How could I not be good? I mean we're married, we're perfect, we're having a baby! You're seventeen, a good age for it, right? I'm fine," I assured her. Even to my own ears my voice sounded weird. She raised her eyebrow.

"I'll be eighteen by the time it's born," she said.

"By the time… When?"

"Early February I think," she said. I quickly calculated.

"Two months ago. What were we doing two months ago?" I asked her.

"Um. Remember that day, after I'd gone out with Brooke and Peyton and they'd both gotten drunk and Peyton got that tattoo? I'm fairly sure it was then," she said.

"So what, it was just a fluke? What about those pills?" I asked. My voice was getting too high again.

"I think I forgot one," she admitted.

"So you forgot one pill, we did it once and I got you pregnant? How is that possible?" She shrugged.

"Do you want to maybe go out somewhere, clear your head?" she asked gently. I glanced outside-it was about seven and beginning to get dark out.

"Yeah. I'll go out. But not because I'm not completely cool with this-because I am," I said, grabbing my car keys and heading outside.

Really I was better off than some guys-Jake got Nikki pregnant and Nikki was crazy, and they'd been unmarried in high school. But I was so not ready for this. This was something my father had done. Twice. We were married. We'd always planned on doing this. But now? Neither of us had college plans but we were planning on moving to California for a job I'd been offered. We'd rented an apartment, hired a moving fan, begun to pack up our stuff. Neither of us wanted to leave the place we'd always lived in together, but the job, which could lead to a basketball scholarship, was good enough that we'd decided to do it.

Without meaning to I ended up at the local bar.

The blond waitress winked as she served me a pint of draft beer. I settled down at the counter and took a refreshing gulp. Haley was pregnant. With a baby. My baby. How the hell was I supposed to handle that? And how was she? Was she sitting at home, worrying I'd pull a Dan Scott?

"Nathan!" called a voice. I turned around-Jake Jagielski, Peyton's husband was making his was to the bar. He sat down beside me. Jake was a good guy-a better friend to my brother, but he was in my circle at school.

"Man, I just heard. Haley called Peyton and said you'd gone out, and…" he trailed off.

"You put the pieces together?"

"Yeah. I mean when I found out about Nikki I spent about ten minutes trying to calm the both of us down and then got down here," he said.

"How did you deal with that?" I asked.

"It wasn't exactly pure joy every waking minute. Nikki told me when she was already about five months in so I didn't have much time to prepare myself. And then she'd randomly disappear and reappear, which was hard. And then she had the baby, and it was amazing. Jenny was just so beautiful. Then she moved into my parent's house with me and we began to raise Jenny but then one Wednesday I woke up and she'd just disappeared. She broke my heart, but I was glad afterwards that she'd left Jenny behind. Then she showed up nine months later," said Jake.

"She could give Dan Scott a run for her money," I said dryly.

"Yeah. But you couldn't," he said.

"What would you do, if Peyton was pregnant?"

"I don't know. I mean we both know a lot about kids but she's going to school soon, and I'm trying to find a full time job and we're both trying to find a place for Jenny to start day care at a reasonable cost. I guess I'd still have to get the job and she'd have to quite school eventually," he said. "Or take on of those leaves of absence."

"She doesn't want go anyway," I remarked.

"Yeah, but she knows she should. Anyway, what does Haley want?"

"I don't know. We were both trying to calm down when I left. She likes kids-she's always doing all this volunteer work," I said.

"So not keeping the baby is..?" said Jake.

"Not an option," I said quickly.

"Okay. So you should go home, calm her down and then just go with it. It will turn out okay," he said firmly. We were getting too close into bonding territory, and we were both getting uncomfortable.

Haley was asleep when I got home, curled up on the couch. I walked over to her and carefully eased her head onto my lap. She stirred.

"Nate?"

"Shh. Hales. How are you feeling?"

"Sick," she said.

"Okay. Maybe tomorrow we can go to the doctor, make sure it's all healthy?" I said. I was already beginning to worry about it. Gently I placed my hand on her flat stomach, and hers joined me.

"Yeah. God, I'm going to have to tell my parents…"

"Your parents? I'm going to have to tell _my_ parents."


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

"I still can't believe it about Haley," said Jake as we cleared up the breakfast dishes.

"Yeah. I mean she's only seventeen!" I said. She'd told me about the reception, as had Jake-Nathan had tried his best to keep his cool, totally blew it, ended up at a bar and then came back to be a totally perfect Nathan. Thoughtfully, I wondered what it would have been like if it had been that way when we'd gone out. Then, he never would have turned out that way without Haley. Haley was widely acknowledged as the reason he wasn't the jerk he used to be.

"I'm happy for them, but no one could understand how much this is going to change their lives," he said. I smiled sympathetically at him.

"It's different. They have each other, and they're both out of school," I pointed out.

"Yeah, I've got you and it's still pretty hard," he said. As if on cue, Jenny wailed from the living room. He kissed the top of my head.

"I know. Oh, she's grown-we need to go the baby store and get her fall clothes," I said.

"Yeah. And we have to get you new stuff too," he added.

"What?"

"Pey you're starting school in two weeks and you've done nothing to prepare for it," he said.

"I'm not sure I want to go," I said softly. I'd been avoiding thinking about it for weeks.

"You have to go. I'm not going to have you stay home on my account," he said.

"Well, Jenny's account too! And why not? You're my husband, it's supposed to matter more," I countered.

"Yeah but what are you going to do without an education?"

"You sound like my dad. And I'll be an artist, and there's Tric nights. I can ask Karen if she'll let me take on more now that I'm old enough. Do you know how much money I make from Tric per month?" I asked him.

"Yes, I know exactly how much. But is it really what you want to do for the rest of your life?" he asked.

"I don't want to think about the rest of my life. I have the rest of my life to do that," I said stubbornly.

"If that's way you want it, it's what we'll do. But hopefully we can get the deposit back from Duke," he said.

"I think that that can be arranged," said a voice from the door. I spun around.

"Daddy!" I said excitedly, throwing myself at him. He caught me and set me down lightly.

"How's my little girl?" he asked. I smiled at him.

"Not so little. You know Jake, right? And Jenny?"

"Yes. Hey Jake. Last time I was here you weren't, however," he said, pseudo-sternly.

"I went on a road trip with Brooke. We brought Haley back home," I said.

"Haley? The one married to Nathan who's the half brother of Lucas, who you used to be in love with, who's mother is involved with his uncle after years of longing?" asked Dad dramatically. I giggled.

"Yeah. Haley's back. And she's got news," I said mysteriously.

"She's pregnant," volunteered Jake from the stove. I took three steps back and leaned against him.

"Already? Isn't she sixteen?" he asked, alarmed.

"Seventeen. She'll be eighteen in time."

"Do me a favour and don't do that," he said jokingly. I rolled my eyes but shot Jake a nervous glance.

"Mommy!" came an insistent voice from the living room.

"Coming sweetie!" I called back. Dad raised his eyebrows.

"What? She's my daughter," I said innocently. He smiled and the two of them followed me into the living room.

Jenny, who had been playing joyfully with a plastic drum suddenly grew shy. As I sat on the sofa she ran to me and allowed me to pull her onto my lap, burrowing her head into my shoulder.

"Well, this is our Jenny," said Jake, laughing.

"So you're not going to school?" asked Dad.

"Maybe."

"Your choice, but I'd advise against it," he said mildly.

"How long are you staying?" I asked him. He sighed and I narrowed my eyes. "Dad?"

"Until tomorrow."

"Tomorrow! You haven't been back since May and it's September! Luke and Brooke are both away at school now!" I said in annoyance.

"Come on sweetie, you know I love to be with you but you've made me irrelevant. You have a family now, and I'm just a guest here," he said. I winced-this was true, although painful.

"That's not right. You still live here," I reminded him.

"Come on. Last time I was here the sofa was here and the walls were green," he said.

"Dad, the walls were always cream," I pointed out. He laughed.

"Yeah. So how pregnant is Haley?"

"About two months in, we figure," said Jake.

"Yeah, about that. She's going to tell Nathan's parents tonight," I said.

"Brutal. What about her parents?"

"Oh, they travel. She just has Karen," I said lightly, avoiding his eye.

"Enough for anyone. But I know Deb and Dan Scott-telling them something like this would be no picnic. Haley's even younger than Deb was…" he said.

"So weird. The same age as Karen though," I said grimly.

"How could you be such a jerk with something like that on your shoulders?" wondered Jake, voicing something I thought of so often.

"Peyton's mother was a cheerleader-she was a freshman when Karen and Dan were seniors, and Karen was captain of the cheerleading squad and he was lord of the basketball team. She said everyone had a crush on Dan Scott-he had a bit of evil to him, but he was charming and athletic and handsome," said Dad reflectively.

"Nathan was like that. Remember when he used to be arrogant and horrible to Lucas and he first started flirting with Haley to get to Lucas? He was horrible," I said. Jake and Dad snickered. "What?"

"Sweetie you went out with him for months," said Dad.

"Yeah, well, he was hot."

"Compared to..?"

"Compared to all!" I said, annoyed at their retaliation.

"Ouch! I'm wounded," said Jake.

"Me too. She's sharp, this one," said Dad. They both laughed. Jenny laughed as well.

"Traitors. All of you!" I said.

We went to the baby store and bought her more overalls and shirts, some jeans and sweaters. She grew like a weed, but was by far the cutest baby at the store. When we were done Dad took the four of us out to dinner-something Jake and I hadn't done in months. Jenny, so shy in public behaved admirably at the restaurant.

I was embarrassed as my cell phone sang out, and ran to the bathroom to answer it.

"Haley?" I said.

"Hey."

"How'd it go?" her voice had the odd, hysterically laughter filled tone of someone who could only look brightly at a terrible situation by seeing its humorous angle.

_"God, wait till I tell you…"_


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

"Deb! How are you?" I asked as we kissed each other's cheeks and smiled falsely. She wasn't true, but at least she was civil.

"Mom," said Nathan, hugging his mother.

"Mr. Scott," I said, shaking his hand formally. Nathan greeted his father in the same way.

"Haley you look fantastic-home's working out for you?" asked Deb pleasantly. I glanced sideways at Nathan and blushed-I was dreadful at holding in my secret.

"How's work going son?" asked Dan. Nathan kept his face stiff-he was relatively proud of working under a sport's agent, but Dan had never been. And his picking up extra shifts at the movie theatre didn't exactly endear him.

"It's great. We're doing fine," said Nathan.

"Bet you're wife's a big help there," said Dan, with his customary smirk. I gently laid my hand on Nathan's arm, hoping to calm him down.

"Unlike you, of course," said Nathan.

"Okay, new topic. When's the big move scheduled?" asked Deb.

"Oh, we're not moving," I said hastily. We'd changed our plans upon receiving my news.

"What?" asked Nathan in surprise. The two of them looked at the two of us.

"What? We can't. Didn't we talk about this?"

"Uh no. Why shouldn't we be moving?" he asked. His face was beginning to lose it's composure-he hated when our marriage appeared as a failure in front of his parents.

"Nathan, you know why," I said covertly.

"Actually, Haley, I don't. As far as I knew, three weeks ago we were both looking forward to this. Now it's off? So suddenly?" He wasn't being good at picking up signs.

"Nate don't make me spell it out for you."

"Actually Haley I think that's exactly what you should do," said Dan smoothly. I turned back to them-Deb was looking politely inquisitive, he was looking smug. I smiled up to Nathan for reassurance-even in a fight we were together against his parents. He put his arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into him.

"Haley's pregnant."

Dan was the first to speak after a long silence-

"Well, I thought that was more your brother's style," he said.

"Yeah, like you know. You've never talked to him," I said spitefully. I'd grown up next to Lucas, watching him in pain over this.

"Watch your mouth," he warned me.

"I won't! I'm a grown woman, this is my house, my baby and I'll say whatever the hell I please," I said. Nathan gripped my shoulder.

"And anyway, Brooke never was pregnant," added Nathan calmly.

"Haley, how did this happen?" asked Deb.

"It was a fluke, I guess. We're happy about it now," I said honestly. "I just always figured we'd come back here to raise our kids."

"That sounds sensible," she said agreeably.

"Sensible. My son got some slut knocked up and my wife says sensible," said Dan. Nathan stood.

"Dad, you can't come here and talk about _my wife_ like that and choose how we should live our lives," said Nathan, his anger bordering on being furious.

"Watch me."

"Actually, I won't watch you, except for to watch you walk out of those doors."

"Do you know the mistake you're making? If you weren't a stupid kid like I was a stupid kid you wouldn't have to have a kid and I'd only have to have one."

"IT'S NOT A MISTAKE!" I yelled.

"So why is it that I deserve to be here and not my brother," asked Nathan. I glanced at Deb and we exchanged surprisingly familiar looks.

"What a pair of sons I've raised," said Dan incredulously.

"A pair? You've raised one son, Dan, and did a half ass job at that," I said.

"I hate to admit that she's right-I was an asshole before she came into my life," said Nathan. I smiled a small smile at him.

"Oh come on, you had the perfect life before she came along and tried to convince you to give up your spot on the team, abandon your parents and marry her," said Dan.

"I'm warning you…"

"Of what? What can you possibly do to me that you haven't done already?" asked Dan, smirking. Nathan smirked back-

"Oh, repetition never bothered me," he said, swinging a punch at his father's nose.

Deb shrieked. I shrieked Dan swore. Blood began to spurt out of his nose as his wife and I exchanged looks of horror. She dropped to her knees.

"Dan? Dan, are you okay?" she asked.

"Don't worry about me-worry about him," Dan managed to say.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. They dropped their voices to audible whispers.

"He just punched me!"

"You were inexcusably rude to his wife, his job, his way of living," said Deb. I've never seen Dan look more like he wanted to hit her. She looked as though she noticed the same thing.

"We're going," he said quietly.

"No, that's not actually true. You're going away, and staying away until my wife and I deem it appropriate for you to darken our doors away. Mom, we spent all day trying to prepare a meal that you're welcome to join us with," said Nathan courteously.

"That sounds nice," she said. I saw him give her another spiteful glance before he skulked off.

"I should have known that that would happen," I said sadly.

"Yeah. Not many scenes have 'Dan' written on them quite as clearly," said Nathan, flexing his hand. "You wouldn't believe how much this hurts."

"Well believe it or not, I'm actually very happy for you two. Tell me everything," said Deb, with a show of sincerity.

"Well we found out a few days ago and we went to the Doctor and he confirmed that I was indeed pregnant and that I'm almost eleven weeks along, and all is looking well. We had an ultrasound, it's a tiny thing. We don't know if it's a girl or boy, the only thing we do know for sure of it's singularity," I said. She laughed.

"Twins seem nice in stories, but taking care of this one was enough, believe you me," said Deb. To my intense relief, he laughed along with us.

"I'm glad you're not moving," she confessed.

"Me too. It would have been fun to be away for a while, but I'd have missed this place too much, and I always thought I'd raise my own kids here," I said thoughtfully.

"How many, do you think?" asked Deb. I understood her caution-after all, I was one of seven.

"Two. Maybe three. At least one of each, anyway," I said. Nathan and I had briefly discussed this.

"I wanted another child, but Dan thought that one was plenty," she said, holding in a sigh.

"Who knows what the future holds," said Nathan philosophically. We all giggled.

"I'm just worried about the tabloids getting wind of this and spreading it around-you know, 'Haley James and Love Child Shocker!' 'Chris Kellar is Proud to Announce…'" I said jokingly.

"Babe, don't finish that sentence," he said.

"So when are you due?"

"February or March," I said. Soon.

"Are you going to raise it here?" she asked.

"We haven't talked about it-but we and this place go way back," said Nathan. I nodded in agreement, though I knew that my 'two-maybe three' kids wouldn't fit in this one bedroom apartment.


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

"So they actually took it well?" I said in surprise.

"Yeah. Half of them," said Haley wryly, dubiously examining a pair of discount maternity pants.

"Dan..?"

"Got his lights punched out by Nathan after calling me a knocked up slut," she said easily.

"Go Nate," I said in surprise.

"Yeah. He was defending my honour-it was sweet, in a weird father punching way. Hey, can you see me actually wearing these?" she asked in disgust, holding up a pair of maternity briefs over her designer shirt. I wrinkled my nose.

"God, you're going to be so fat."

"I know. But I'm starting to kind of look forward to it, you know? I mean we both love it so much already-Nathan talks to it sometimes," she said.

"What?"

"Oh, you know. 'Hi Hales, hey Sprout, or something," she said, giggling.

"Sprout?" I asked in surprise.

"Oh, our name for it. But Deb took it great-she asked about our checkup and what our plans are and stuff," she continued.

"I still can't believe you're moving," I said sadly.

"Get this-we're not. Nathan got his boss to reconsider and we're staying!" she said excitedly. I hopped an unPeytonesque hop.

"That's so great! Oh, I'm going to have a little niece! Or nephew! Almost!" I said excitedly, picking up a semi passable shirt and adding it to the pile.

"I know. I'm going to be a mom. And Nathan's going to be a Dad-it's so surreal. I feel like I should tell Brooke, but I'd rather tell her in person," said Haley.

"Haley, by the next time we see her you'll be over five months in. You're not gonna need to tell you, you're stomach's going to tell itself," I said. "And Luke? He's supposed to be your best friend!"

"He is! Such a good friend that I need to do it in person!"

"What about your parents?" I asked.

"Oh, I told them," she said easily. "And the family, except for Taylor."

"Oh right, I heard she went AWOL," I said.

"Yeah, but she'll show up," said Haley confidently.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, after all it is Tree Hill," she said. It was Tree Hill-our past would always come back to haunt us. Relationships never broke up without reunions, however brief. Friends never disappear without reappearances. Enemies you'd hoped to have shaken off always come back to haunt you.

"So how is it with you and Jake?" she asked.

"Good. It was a bit awkward when Dad was around but we're fine now-he's still trying to find a better job, I'm preparing to go to school, Jenny's good, we're trying to find a daycare. I'm still a little sick, but it comes and goes," I said easily. If she shot me an odd look, I didn't notice.

"Hey, let's go in here," she said, indicating a lingerie shop. I shook my head.

"Hales, don't torture yourself."

"No, I want to. It's only another two months that I'll be able to wear things like this so I may as well live it up," she said, holding a black camisole up to herself. I grinned and snatched a red bra down from the rack.

"So what are you going to do?" I asked as we exited the store.

"Right now?"

"No, in the future. Like school, work?" I asked.

"I made a lot of money, I think enough to live on, but I think I'm going to work-after Sprout is born, when we can hire someone, I might go to teacher's college. Nathan might try to get a scholarship into a good school, he's already been offered a few. What about you guys?"

"I don't know anymore. I've pretty much decided to actually go to Duke but I don't really want to, but Thud doesn't go for me anymore because my pictures aren't depressing enough. But I make a lot out of Tric," I said.

"Yeah, it's getting so popular. I have some contacts, I might be able to help you out with bands if you need them," she volunteered.

"Thanks, I might take you up on that. Jake's a really talented musician, but he hasn't decided what he wants to do, and right now he's kind of busy," I said.

"Yeah-I've always admired how he managed to stay in school, on the team with a baby-now that he has a whole family it's even more impressive," she said.

"Yeah. God, I love him," I said happily.

"I'm glad-I could tell, when you came to visit me months ago that you didn't, but it doesn't matter, not if you do now."

"Remember when you came back with us? And you saw Nathan and you guys just couldn't take your eyes off each other, and then he came to help you off the stage and you thought he'd berate you but then he kissed you?" I asked. It had been adorable.

"Yeah. And then we talked-like really talked, without arguing. Then we went home, and…" Haley blushed.

"Oh, conception?"

"No, I actually think that was the day after our girls night, the time you got drunk," she said.

"Oh, well that's better. You haven't been drunk since then," I said.

"When am I ever drunk?" she asked imperiously.

"Shut up. Anyway, how far in does that make you?"

"Let's see. Well today is the tenth, so…"

"It's not the tenth," I interrupted.

"Yeah it is," she said in surprise.

"Isn't."

"Is. Why can't it be?" she asked.

"Because that would make me pretty damn late."


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Jake looked concerned when I stormed in ten minutes later. Jenny, thankfully, was with Karen as I charged into his arms and began to cry. This was Haley's mess-not my own. We had always been so careful… _They had been too…_

"Peyton? What's wrong?" he asked, sounding concerned but completely baffled.

"I love you, you know that right?" I said, edging on hysteria.

"Yeah… And I love you," he said soothingly.

"Always?"

"Forever, no matter what," he said.

"Good. I needed to here that," I said.

"Just tell me, I know I'll be okay with it," he said.

"You won't."

"I will. Talk to me," he said.

"I'm pregnant."

Jake's arms stayed around me and tightened, as I knew his thoughts turned to terror. Jake had been through all this before, but that didn't make an unexpected baby less terrifying. Nothing could.

"How sure are you?" he asked shakily.

"I skipped. At least once," I said.

"By how much?" he asked.

"I don't know. I don't generally count."

"How could this possibly happen?" he asked.

"I don't know. We've always been so careful," I said.

"You're not on the Pill, right?"

"No. The first time I tried it I had a bad reaction to it. That's why we've always been so careful about condoms," I said.

"Ninety seven percent affective. Wait, about two months you think? Prom night, Peyton," he said. I thought back.

"God, we hadn't done for so long-is that why we forgot? Did we? How is that possible?"

"We'll never know if we forgot or if it was a fluke or just too much… passion, I guess. If you're just late, maybe we should go take a test?" he suggested.

"No-I want to be sure. Let's go to a clinic? Like now?" I asked. He nodded.

"Okay. Jenny can stay with Karen, we'll go to the walk in place by the restaurant. Come on, I'll drive you," he said, looping his arm around me.

"We'll have your results in two days, Mrs. Jagielski," said a tired looking doctor an hour later. I looked at him.

"What? Two whole days?"

"I'm sorry, I know it's hard but it takes a while to process the results. We'll be in touch as soon as we know," he promised. I nodded and reluctantly slipped off the table.

"God, how can this be happening to me? This was supposed to be happening to Haley, and only Haley. I was going to help her out, teach her stuff and now I'm going to be too busy too. And I can't go to school, and we don't have enough money…"

"Pey, you didn't even want to go to school. I hate to admit this, but you make plenty with your Tric nights alone, Haley and you will help each other and as hard as this is going to be, I know that neither of us are going to regret a second," he said soothingly.

"I guess you're right. Jenny is going to hate it," I said, laughing dryly.

"So I guess we go home?" he said. As we walked out, the drugstore caught me eye. Subconsciously I shook my head. "What?"

"No. I changed my mind, I can't wait two days. Come on," I ordered. Sighing, he walked with me to the store as we purchased two tests.

"Such deja-vu," I commented as we sat, waiting for the test to be over.

"Haley?"

"Yeah-as soon as Brooke left we started talking and she was too scared to tell Nathan, so we went out and of course she was positive. It was just so agonizing, waiting for those three minutes to be up," I said. My cell rang, shocking the both of us. I answered it, and Karen's voice spoke to me.

"Peyton? Are you coming to pick Jenny up, or Jake?" she asked.

"Oh, do you need us to right now? I can be there in ten minutes," I said hurriedly.

"No, come whenever. Just make sure you come, or the two of you. And bring Haley with you, or get her to meet us," said Karen. I detected a note of unconstrained excitement in her voice.

"Why?"

"I have something to tell the two of you. Peyton, what's wrong? You sound nervous," she said in concern.

"I'm fine. I'll be there," I promised. Jake looked questioningly at me.

"Karen has a surprise," I revealed. He nodded, and I wondered if he'd truly heard me.

"Okay. Um, time's up," he said.

Slowly I stood up and walked to the sink where they both lay innocently on the counter. In the screen of one I saw two bold red lines, in the other a small plus sign.

"Both positive," I said tonelessly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I'm always going to be here. You know that, right?" he asked.

"I'm going to have a baby. I'm eighteen, Jake," I said.

"I know. Nikki was too. But this is going to be so much better," he said.

"Because it's going to be the both of us," I said, assuring him and I at the same time.

I didn't trust myself to drive, so I ended up walking to Karen's and calling Haley en route.

"Mommy!" came Jenny's call as she jumped off the chair from the table she'd been coloring at to throw herself at my legs. I knelt down and hugged her, smiling as she hugged me tightly. Karen came up behind me and smiled. As she did so, I heard the bells on the door chime and Haley's voice greet us. I pulled Jenny onto my hip and looked expectantly at Karen.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Sit down, girls," she said. The four of us sat around a table.

"Spill," ordered Haley. Karen blushed and smiled.

"Keith and I are getting married," she revealed. Haley shrieked. Forgetting my troubles for a moment, I grinned.

"Seriously? How'd it happen?" demanded Haley.

"Like it often does-he just came over, we had breakfast and he asked. It was incredible," she said. I thought of how happy he'd most likely be-she'd turned him down once before.

"He's been wanting this since high school," I said.

"I'm so happy," she said.

"Me too," said Haley.

"And we're getting married in four months and I want both of you to be my bridesmaids. And Deb," she said. Haley and I exchanged glances-she opened her mouth.

"That's great Karen, and I'd love to, but I don't think I'm going to fit into a dress by then," she said. Karen stared, and then realization struck her. Her eyes grew wide.

"Really? That's incredible!" she said, sounding truly happy. I took a deep breath-it was now or never.

"Me too." Karen and Haley both turned to stare at me.

"What?" they said simultaneously.

"Pregnant. Me," I said. Karen shrieked.

"Oh, I'm going to be a grandmother!" We heard Deb's laugh and saw her exit the kitchen.

"Congratulations Peyton. And actually Karen, that's me," she said. I nodded and turned to look back to Karen who shrugged.

"Come on, you're both daughters to me. This is incredible. How did Jake take it?"

"Beautifully, like I knew he would. I just don't know how this one will," I said, tickling Jenny's feet, who was oblivious to the happy news.

"So if Dan's daughter-in-law and his wife are both bridesmaids and his brother is getting married to the mother of his child I guess you're going to have to invite him, hey?" I said. Luckily, even Deb laughed.

"Oh, like he'll come. Have you told Luke?" she asked. She was looking at Haley, but I knew she really meant me.

"Neither of us have-I just found out about Peyton about a minute ago. We'll tell Brooke and Luke then they come for Thanksgiving," she said.

"What did Larry say?" asked Deb, coming over to join us.

"Oh, I haven't told him. I found out about two hours ago," I said breezily.

"You're much breezier than I was when I found out about Lucas," admitted Karen. I wanted to tell her that it was because Jake and I were married and I trusted him to do the right thing, but there was no way that that could end well.

"Or me," added Deb. I realized suddenly that we would all be teenage mothers. What did that tell you, if anything?

_Author's note: Now that we're into this story, I'm going to share what's coming up next. Possibly a third in the series based around their kids and the original five, and after that an unrelated Nathan and Haley series, probably with different pairings. And in this story-look forward to some ghosts from the past and a wee bit of tragedy. _


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

"Jake must be going nuts," commented Nathan as we lay in bed on a Saturday morning.

"Yeah. Peyton too," I added.

"Yeah."

"Isn't it weird how we're all going to be teenage parents before nineteen? What is with that?" I asked. Was it a coincidence, or what?

"Jake already is one."

"Yeah. It must be killing him. I mean, what do people think of a guy who got two girls pregnant in high school?"

"Not a lot-but one was his wife."

"Nate…" I began. Propping myself up on my elbow and turning to face him.

"Hales?"

"What are we going to do? About me. I mean, about us? How are we going to deal with a kid?" I asked nervously. It was disconcerting, how at ease he was with the entire situation.

"Well. In six months, you'll have a baby," he said, obviously not understanding.

"Nathan seriously! I mean what if I want to work? What if we have more kids soon because we want them to be close in age? What if you want to go to school, or if I do?" I asked, bordering on panic.

"Okay. If you want to work, we'll hire a nanny or do daycare. If you want more kids soon, I do too. If I want to go to school, I'll commute to Charlotte or we'll move. This is going to be okay," he said reassuringly.

"How do you know that? Do you even care about the future?" I asked, sitting upright.

"Haley of course I care, I just know we'll be fine. You don't have to panic," he said. I realized slowly that my pregnancy was making me act insane.

"Yeah. It's not good for the baby, right?" I asked, flopping back onto the bed.

"Or you. So how are you feeling?" he asked.

"Sick. But done my first trimester, so I think that that will stop soon. And I was online and apparently I'll start to show soon, and have to wear maternity clothes," I said. Peyton and I had already gone shopping for maternity clothing but I wasn't exactly looking forward to it.

"Can I see?" he requested. I laughed.

"It's nothing-just my stomach," I said.

"Please?"

Agreeably I pulled up my shirt. Gently he placed his hand on it and smiled. Love for him washed over me.

"You know how much I love you, right Hales?" he said, tearing his eyes away and looking into mine.

"I'll always love you," I promised. And I'd always stay with him-I was ready for it now.

"Good. I wonder if it'll be a boy or a girl?" he said.

"I think it's a boy," I said.

"Oh, really? I was thinking girl," he said.

"Huh. Well you're wrong," I said, jumping out of the bed to avoid the hands that came to tickle me.

The room was bathed in the mid morning sun. I stumbled over to the coffee machine and lazily put in a filter and filled it with water and flicked it on. Glancing over my shoulder, I quickly reached for the bag of coffee beans on the middle shelf above my head.

Behind me I heard running footsteps and saw a hand reach ahead of mine and pull the bag out of reach.

"Nathan!" I said in annoyance, turning around to face him and crossing my arms. Laughing, he placed the bag on top of the fridge.

"No, you know what the doctor said. If it's born with three heads you'll regret this cup of coffee," he said staunchly.

"I won't. When is three worse than one? And anyway, how do you know what I was going to do? Do you secretly have ESP?" I asked.

"First of all, one head is all we require. Second of all, you do this at least once every couple of days and every day you do it the same way. Hide it better if you want your coffee," he said, tossing me a bag of decaf that I barely managed to catch in my outstretched fingers.

As we sat down to our breakfast, the door knocked. It took me a moment to register the sound-Peyton, Jake, and even Tim entered without knocking. Deb, maybe? I walked to the door and opened it, gasping. Long, straight blonde hair, blue eyes, a clear oval face. The tiniest sweater I'd ever seen. I barely had time to think this before I was engulfed in an embrace.

"Haley!" said the phantom, who surely couldn't be real.

"Taylor?" I asked in surprise. It came to me first how much I loved her and that she was my sister before I remembered how she'd meddled in my marriage and had helped it fall apart.

"Oh, I've missed you," she said, pulling away. I noticed a magazine in her hand, but she didn't have a bag with her.

"I've missed you too," I admitted. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not staying, I promise. I was just reading this and came to find out if you were okay," she said, handing me the tabloid and flipping to a page.

A picture, taken several months before of Chris and I walking down a New York street was under the title-"James and Keller in Secret Vacation." In another corner was a picture of him and Peyton and Brooke and I at the mall, with me as the recipient of his forced hug. Then there was me with Peyton at the mall-buying _maternity clothing_. I quickly realized what the article was suggesting, though they did not say it out right. Nathan came up behind me. I could not see his anger, but felt it nonetheless.

"Asshole," he said bitterly.

"What of this is true?" asked Taylor.

"I'm pregnant, Nathan is the father, Chris followed me here after I came back with my friends," I said distractedly.

"Congratulations. What are you going to do?" she asked, sounded concerned as opposed to curious.

"What can I do?"

"Strike back!" This time it was Nathan who spoke. I glanced back at Taylor, expecting incredulous eyes looking back at me. But she was looking at Nathan in understanding.

"Yeah. I sort of have a plan," she admitted. I rolled my eyes.

"Please. The last time you had a plan we ended up grounded," I said.

"Haley-bub, you were nine. And this has nothing to do with silly string, I promise. I figure I owe you guys a favour," she said. Nathan scoffed."

"You owe us about a hundred," he said. She wilted slightly under his intense glare.

"I do. And I'm sorry, honestly," she said. I sighed.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about humiliation. I'm talking about backfiring, about him looking like a player and about me looking like a slut," she said. Oddly enough, this did not appear to bother her.

"Are you talking about what I think you're talking about it's a bad idea," I said. I turned to Nathan, who looked bewildered.

"Come on Haley. The only one who stands to get hurt is me, and I won't. You get to publicly have a husband again, have him your babies father and then maybe these people will finally leave you alone," she said. Her sincerity surprised me-had she actually changed.

"I'm not going to let you do this for me," I said.

"Okay, what are you guys talking about?" asked Nathan.

With slight hesitation, Taylor opened her mouth and told him everything.

_Author's note: Sorry that this took so long to get up._


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

"So what's new in Tree Hill?" came Brooke's voice through the phone. I paused guiltily.

"Um. Well Taylor's back, and Chris hasn't left yet. And Keith and Karen are getting married," I said.

"Okay. What's happening with you?" she asked.

"Nothing. I'm postponing school, I'm trying to find a job, Karen's letting me handle more Tric stuff and she gave me a raise," I contributed.

"That's it? No scandal?"

"No, Luke's gone. Tell me about you," I instructed.

"Well. School's hard, honestly. They don't care if I don't show up for classes but you have to take real notes and people get pissed if you talk to your neighbor. I share a room with this girl, Rachael Stevens, and she's a bit of a do gooder but she's alright. I spend a lot of my time with Mouth, of course. He's taking way more classes than me and getting better grades, but he's so sweet about it. We went to this party last night-he's a great dancer, it's so nice to have a boyfriend that will actually dance with you. Oh, and I talked to Luke-he's already on the team and getting ready to set the world on fire. He said to say hi," she said.

"Weird, he hasn't called me," I said.

"That's not weird."

"Is too. He's one of my best friends, it's like you not calling me," I said. I could almost hear her frown.

"He might be one of your best friends, but he also happens to be in love with you," she reminded me.

"Is not. Sorry, I have to go," I said quickly, hanging up. I ran to the bathroom and emptied my stomach.

By the time I was through, my mind was clear as well. How could I not tell Brooke about my baby? I hadn't told anyone yet besides my closest circle-Haley, Nathan, Jake and Karen. But Brooke was in that circle. She deserved to know but I didn't have the heart to tell her.

In so many ways, Haley was more akin to me. But Brooke would always be my best friend. When my mom had died she'd been the only one brave enough to try and get close to me, when my dad had gone away again she'd helped me as much as she could. Even after her boyfriend had cheated on her with me she'd only been mad for a couple of months before we'd resumed our friendship in full force.

Haley and Brooke had almost nothing in common but managed to stay close in spite of it-their differences attracted one another, and Brooke came close to understanding why Haley, without a strong family to fall back on, would tie herself to Nathan so early. In ways that even I didn't truly understand, Brooke understood why Haley had left Nathan.

My life would be different without Brooke. She'd convinced me to take a road trip to New York to find Haley, and Haley in New York had convinced me to marry Jake and we'd brought back Haley. Brooke had played a major role in my breaking up with Nathan, and then in turn falling in love with Lucas, even if he had broken my heart. She was an amazing friend, even during the stretch that I'd lied to her about my relationship with her boyfriend. Brooke fooled almost everyone into believing that she was more than a beautiful face.

"Mommy!" called Jenny. I stayed in my position, leaned against the bathtub, and she quickly found me. Throwing herself at me, I held her tightly.

"How was your day?" I asked her.

"Good," she answered simply. Would it be nice, to have days that were simply bad or good?

"And yours?" I looked up at Jake, who entered the room behind me.

"Whitey's getting old," he said sadly. Whitey had always been old, but during our Senior year he'd had a minor stroke and had lost some of his vision-because of this, we'd recently learned that he was being forced into retirement. None of us understood why this seemed so crazy-he was, after all, in his late seventies.

"I know. Whitey's distant, but in so many ways he's a father to all of us," I said.

"We all have that, you notice? Whitey never had kids so he plays somewhat of a father to you and to even Luke and Nate. Karen only ever had a son so she mothers your and Haley. It's amazing, the place we live in," he said, sinking down beside me, glancing at my still flat abdomen as he did so.

"Yeah. Deep, by the way," I commented. Jenny grew bored of my lap and wandered over to the sink, and began to pull down the objects from it.

"Yeah. I'm just in that kind of mood-I saw Mom and Dad, they send their regards and congratulations and we've been offered a crib," he said.

"Well we don't need it-we have Jenny's everything," I said.

"But Jenny needs that."

"Jake, by the time baby is born Jenny will be too old for her high chair, her crib, her stroller and her changing table," I pointed out.

"Don't say those things," he said. I giggled.

Downstairs we suddenly heard the door open, and feet charge up the steps. To our surprise Karen appeared and thrust a magazine at us-we gaped at the cover.

"Taylor?" I said in surprise. I picked up my phone to call Haley.


	10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

I glanced around at the dozens of underage boys ogling me in my tiny sweater. It was weird, being in an all ages club-even before I'd turned twenty one I hadn't let the fact stop me. I'd had a fake ID since fifteen.

I glanced up at the stage, where my little sister and Chris were singing a duet. She wasn't as good as she normally was-she felt guilty for betraying a guy who thought of her as a friend. I glanced warily at him-he was tall, but very skinny. Not the kind of guy I'd be attracted to in real life, outside of mastermind plots, even with his singing voice.

Everyone applauded as they finished their duet. I glanced at Nathan, staring at his wife on the stage, beside a man he hated. He glanced over at me, and I felt a hint of pity. It was demonic, what I was about to do. One of the worse things I'd ever done, including emailing him as Haley. Including sleeping with my sister's husband.

Chris departed from the stage but Haley ran to me.

"Showtime. Good luck," she said. She squeezed my hand and I smiled a small smile.

His back was facing me as I entered, not bothering to knock.

"Haley?" he said. Jerk. I quickly realized that he was expecting my little sister to abandon her husband again. My pregnant little sister.

"Even better," I said softly.

He spun around. I saw him take me in in confusion-his eyes swept from my head to my toes, and stared at my face. I could tell he noticed our similarities.

"You're not Haley."

"Like I said, I'm a better version," I said, smirking and meeting his eyes flirtatiously.

"You think I like Haley because of her body?" he said. His admiring glances made me doubt what he said.

"Who says I'm not more than a pretty face?"

"Why do you look like her?"

"I'm her sister," I said. Recognition flashed before his eyes.

"Taylor? You're the one that slept with Nathan?"

"And emailed you as Haley?" as I said this, he seemed to wilt. "Truth hurts, doesn't it? But now, I'm Quinn James," I lied.

"Quinn… You're the one at NYC, right?" he asked.

"Yeah. You know TV doesn't do you justice-it makes you look was too skinny," I said, moving closer.

"Oh really?" he said.

"Yeah. You know I saw you guys, the last time you performed in the City?" I said.

"Okay. What'd you think?"

"That you were a hottie," I said, smiling.

"Your sister think so?"

"Who cares?" I said, pressing up to him and kissing him.

He compiled easily. His hands quickly found their way around me and he unhooked my bra through my sweater. It was weird, pretending to be hot for someone who did nothing for me.

"Do you have a hotel room or something?" I asked, breaking off the kiss.

"Yeah. I'm staying at a motel-come on, we'll go out the back exit," he said. I refastened my bra.

We reached the exit without running into anyone. Quickly, covertly, I kissed him again and pressed my back against the door, blindly opening it.

Camera flashes light the night sky. He pulled away from me and looked at it all, astounded. I feigned a deer in the headlights look and pressed up to him again.

"Mr. Keller! What will Miss James say about this?" shouted a reporter.

"Mr. Keller, are the rumours about your and Haley James' child true?" shouted another.

"What's your name?"

"Taylor James," I squeaked.

"As in Haley James?"

"I'm her sister," I said. Another hundred flashes went off.

"Shut up!" he hissed at me.

"Why? What girl doesn't want to be in the newspaper?" I said naively.

He brought back his hand and brought it hard across my cheek-I flinched, forced tears to come and ran.

I answered all the questions that the reporters that followed me answered, informed them of Haley and Nathan, just as we'd all planned. I put myself forward as a victim, as a cruelly used pawn.

I woke up at six the next morning to go to the newsstand. I found myself in all the tabloids and even in some of the newspapers. I was portrayed as an ignorant victim, not as a slut. I saw pictures of him hitting me, of my tear streaked face, of the two of us kissing and even some of Haley with her husband.

"Keller jumps from sister to sister!" screams a headline.

"Taylor James victim of abuse!"

"The truth about the rumours!"

"Haley Scott and her secret husband!"

I smile as I read the stories-my demonic plan had gone off hitchless. Now Chris was a player, Haley was a victim, and Nathan was her husband. Chris's career was ruined. I hardly even looked like a whore, a feat for me.

I drove to their apartment. Their lights were already on, so I climbed the stairs and went in. As I did, Haley ran over and hugged me.

"Thank you so, so much," she said sincerely.

"Like I said, I owe you."

"Maybe not so much anymore," said Nathan, coming over. He surprised Haley and me by hugging me as well. I know he was my sister's husband, and completely contraband, but he was extremely hot as well.

"How did the papers have all that information about you guys?" I asked as she led me to the sofa.

"Oh, we came out after and told them the truth. So now Brooke and Lucas both know I'm pregnant which is sucky, seeing as I hadn't yet told them," she said bitterly.

"Wow. Sorry," I said.

"Why?"

"Well of I hadn't come up with this crazy scheme, your secret would still be a secret," I said.

"Yes. But if you hadn't come up with this crazy plan, I'd still be seemingly linked to Chris Keller, and people would think he was my baby's father. However, now they think he's a dirty, abusive sister doer," she said quite crudely.

"Better, I guess," I said. I saw her eyes slide to the puffiness of my cheek.

"Does it hurt?" she asked. I nodded bravely, and Nathan tossed me an icepack.

"I still can't believe he'd do that to you," she said. It was a good choice that my baby sister had made.

The phone rang, and Haley hurried to pick it up. I noticed her hand across the slight bump that was her pregnant stomach. Haley was four years younger than me, yet still managed to handle her grown up life.

"Peyton? Yeah, it's okay. Taylor lured Chris to incriminate him, and he hit her. Yeah, she's fine. I guess you saw the tabloids? Oh, Karen? You know Brooke and Luke will have as well? I'm going to have to call them. They're going to be mad. No, you tell at Thanksgiving," said Haley into the phone. I glanced at Nathan when she mentioned 'telling at Thanksgiving'.

Haley came back to sit down.

"Peyton's pregnant too?" I asked. Haley laughed.

"Yeah-she and Jake were um inactive for a couple of their first months and then they very suddenly got very active, so she's pregnant. But she already knows how to be a mom," she said.

"You'll be fine. So when's it due?" I asked, eyeing her stomach.

"Mine? February 15th," she recited.

"Oh. And Peyton's?" I asked. It was crazy enough that the two of them were married, but babies too?

"February 28th," she responded.

"So you'll be eighteen by then, right?" I asked. It was sometimes hard to believe that she was only seventeen.

"Yeah, in November," she said.

"Boy or girl?"

"We won't know for about a month," she said.

"That is, if we want to know," tacked on Nathan.

"And we do," said Haley.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

The organ music grew more dramatic as Karen appeared and began to slowly walk up the aisle. I shivered-I was wearing a small jacket around my shoulders, atop my spaghetti strapped dress but even so the church in November was cold.

I glanced sideways at Haley. She was over six months along, and showing obviously. As was I-our dresses had had to be accommodating. Her hair was curled and she looked beautiful, but obviously uncomfortable. We exchanged commiserating looks.

Lucas, with Whitey, stood across from me, with Keith. Lucas glanced alternately from his mother to my round stomach. He'd finally grown out his stupid buzz cut, and he'd grown fitter in his months at university.

It made us sad to watch Whitey. In ways that he'd never admit, Nathan and Lucas had been an incredible inspiration to him. His new team had nothing on his previous, best ever one. He was growing older before our eyes, and we all noticed it.

I turned slightly to glance at Brooke and Mouth. She was leaning her head on his shoulder, and smiled slightly when she saw me looking at her. She'd been surprised when I'd told her about my baby-happy for me, but under was an annoyance at being the last to be told, yet my best friend. A gap of sorts had formed between us, now that our lives were so different.

Jake and Jenny sat with Mouth and Brooke. Jenny waved to me, and Jake winked. He cast an admiring glance at my wedding dress-my rounder figure bothered me, but not him. He was so adorable with the baby, trying to convince me to do less work with Jenny and Tric, just to stay at home and relax.

Karen reached the alter. She'd walked it unaccompanied, not desiring to see the father who'd kicked her out. Keith approached her and offered his arm, beaming. He'd waited twenty years for her, never truly believing it would happen. Luke's eyes were fast upon them-he'd always wanted this. We all had. We'd been afraid when she'd been with Andy for so long, and he with Jules.

Karen handed Deb her bouquet. She and Keith faced the officiate, hand in hand. As they were married, my thoughts drifted to my own wedding-my gaze shifting from Jake to Luke, Haley and Nathan staring at each other, my deep feeling of confusion. As I glanced at Deb and Haley, I knew they were thinking of similar things.

As Karen kissed her new husband I thought of my wedding night-Jake being adorable and my pushing him away, and continuing to push him away until our Prom, when I'd gotten pregnant and he'd almost left me after Luke had kissed me for the final time.

Karen beamed as they were proclaimed man and wife-how odd it must be for her, being pronounced Mrs. Scott after always believing to be married to his brother, after bearing his child and watching him walk away from her. Was it odd, to be a Mrs. Scott to be a man she'd refused once before? One who was the brother of the man she hated the most?

The guests cheered as us, the wedding party, as we went back down the aisle behind Karen and Keith. Jake smiled as I passed him, and I grinned at the pair of them. This was a happy day, nothing could ruin it-even my philosophies. Even Luke staring.

I shrieked and hugged Karen as we escaped into the hall. She laughed, and showed me her ring. It was a diamond, unlike my ruby and Haley's simple band. Luke hugged his mother manly hugged his uncle, as Whitey, Haley and Deb followed a similar routine.

Haley and I sank into two hard chair in one corner. She was farther along than I was, but even for me standing for so long was an ordeal.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her, brushing a stray curl away from my eyes.

"He's kicking me," she moaned. After she'd passed sixteen weeks she'd had an ultrasound, and it had been determined that their baby was a boy, though Jake and I wished to be surprised.

"I just need to pee," I said. She nodded.

"I must say, we're lucky we have each other to complain to," she commented. I giggled.

Deb and Karen walked over and smiled down at us.

"How are you guys?" asked Karen.

"Fine," I said quickly.

"Oh please. At your state I never could have managed that long," said Deb.

"Nor me," said Karen. As they exchanged glances, I realized that their situation was ever so slightly similar to our own.

"Yeah, I could do with some relaxation," I admitted.

"Me too," she agreed.

"Mrs. Jagielski?" came a voice. Haley prodded me and I looked up at a running man, holding a portable phone.

"Yes, that's me," I said, attempting to rise but failing miserably.

"A phone call-it's from a hospital in California, and it sounds urgent," he said nervously. I glanced warily at him.

"Who do I know that's sick?" I asked the assembled group. I didn't notice the panic that passed through Karen's eyes.

"This is Peyton Jagielski," I said into the phone.

"You are the daughter of Larry Sawyer?" said a bored sounding voice.

"Yeah," I said slowly.

"We regret to inform you…"

As I slid from consciousness, I recalled the voice in my ear telling me the one thing I didn't want to hear. I saw Karen and Deb bend over me in concern, heard Haley call for my husband. I felt a sharp pain in my belly and even vaguely recall his panicked face before I faded into blank, blessed relief.


	12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

I was the only person I could see who was wearing a tux.

As I sat in a cold, hard chair outside her room I could see many doctors, residents and nurses bustling around, pushing stretchers and wheelchairs, not even noticing me. I began a part of the scenery, melded into the chair, my eyes fast on the closes door.

It had been over an hour since they'd wheeled her in, and they'd warned me that it could take hours. They didn't say that I risked losing my wife and our child, but I knew it was true.

After Nikki had left, I never thought I'd love someone like that again. And I hadn't-looking back, my feelings for Nikki were only bordering on love. What I felt for Peyton was more than I'd ever felt for anyone, more than I'd ever feel for anyone.

She'd been alarmed when she'd found out about the baby, but in some ways I'd been overjoyed. We were in love, we had Jenny, she made us happy-how could another baby not make us happier?

She didn't even mind giving up Duke, though she'd never wanted to go much before. I'd tried to convince her to go to college and take a temporary leave for the baby, but she hadn't gone for it. She wanted to stay home with it and Jenny, be a mom. It surprised me-I never would have expected it of her.

But what I loved about Peyton was that she never did what I expected.

I closed my eyes and immediately the scene sprang back to me-Haley screaming my name, her voice cutting through the excited buzz of chatter of the room. Of me leaving Jenny with Brooke and running from the room, arriving in time to catch her before she reached the floor. Of Haley's panicked expression, of Nathan trying to calm her hysterical sobs, obviously in concern for her as well. I recalled Peyton's brown eyes meeting my own for the barest instant before sliding shut.

In the hour, I'd managed to connect how it had happened-Deb had told me about the phone call that had made Peyton go pale and look her composure. I'd checked the phone-the call had come from a hospital in California. Where Larry was-it was the only thing that made sense. Was he dead, or injured? Was an injury enough to make her pass out, enough for the baby to try to leave?

Haley came running down the corridor. She sank into the chair beside me, her arms around her pregnant stomach.

"What's going on?" she asked, touching my hand gently.

"I don't know. They won't tell me. But I think Larry's dead," I said grimly. She gasped.

"Oh my God. So that's what made her pass out?" she asked in concern.

"Haley you shouldn't be here, you shouldn't get so stressed," I said.

"Nathan said the same thing. But I need to know if something happens to her," she said softly. I nodded.

She sat silently as I began to think back.

"_I know we don't exactly roll with the same crowd, but if you need someone to talk to, I'm here."_

"_Mostly being with you."_

"_Guess this answers the gay question."_

"_Come back. We can talk about this. I love you."_

"_Sounds like it finally stopped raining."_

"_Don't be stupid."_

"_Can you stay here tonight? Just to sleep."_

"_If hopes could bring you home, you and Jenny would be here with me now."_

"If hopes could make you better…" I whispered. Haley, stuck in her own reverie, glanced over at me.

"What?" she asked.

"Oh, just something she said. She's got to get better Haley," I said.

"She will. Baby will, too," she said reassuringly.

"I guess you're looking forward to raising your son with her," I said distractedly.

"Yeah. It'll be fun. I hope they're friends when they grow up," she said. She blushed, seeming to realize how inappropriate what she'd said was.

Lucas walked down the hall toward us. I stood up and we awkwardly hugged.

"Thanks for coming," I said.

"Guess you don't hate me any more?" he asked.

"Not at a time like this," I said. As I sat back down, Haley threw herself at Luke in a friendly embrace.

"Hey Loser," she said affectionately.

"Hey Hales," he said. "And by the way, you've got to stop doing that. It could damage the baby," he said severely.

"Shut up. You do realize it's not yours, right?" she responded.

"I just want my nephew to be safe," he said. Glancing over at me, they stopped their banter and sat down silently.

Two more uneventful hours passed. Brooke called my cell and told me about Jenny and volunteered to look after her for as long as she needed, Nathan called to see how I was doing, Mom and Dad volunteered to come down. Karen interrupted her wedding night to see how I was doing. They meant well, but secretly I wished they'd all just shut up.

I glanced sideways and noticed Haley asleep, sprawled across her chair, resting her head on Luke's shoulder. I sighed and dialed Nathan's number-he was already worried about his pregnant wife being down here. I had a secret resentment, being concerned about his wife who wasn't even having difficulty with her child, though I knew it was ridiculous.

The door I'd been staring at all night suddenly opened. A nurse in filthy scrubs exited and quickly moved toward me, a grave expression on her face.

_Author's note: This is only a few chapters away from being over. So soon you get to read the third (final?) in the series, currently titled 'Chasing Fate'. Oh, and I've been writing this in almost everyone's different viewpoints. So if there's a character you'd really like to see the point of view of, review with it and maybe I'll write it._


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

I bounced Jenny on my knee, my arms awkwardly around her. Apparently she wasn't a very adaptable baby. Even I could see she was exhausted-she was rubbing her eyes, and her arm flailing was only halfhearted.

"I want my mooommy!" she wailed.

"Me too," I whispered.

Peyton was sick. Was Peyton dying? Was her baby already dead? This had been such a happy day. I loved weddings. I was back in Tree Hill, I'd even gotten over almost all of the shock.

I still had trouble comprehending why Peyton hadn't told me. I was her best friend, I deserved to know if she was pregnant. Or was I her best friend? Had Haley taken over? They were so similar. But I'd known Peyton since the first grade, back when Haley was still just a River Kid, invisible to us Hill Kids.

I'd been worried, going away to Vassar with Mouth. She was a happy and in love, content for one of the first times. But our lives were so different. If she'd continued to date Jake, attend school, we'd still be the same and Haley would still be slightly away from us. But know they were both married with babies on the way. I recalled the picture of Haley buying maternity clothes with Peyton in 'US Weekly'. They'd been laughing, though obviously speaking about important stuff, they kind of stuff Peyton only used to tell me.

As I zoned out, I realized Jenny had fallen asleep, while I'd started to cry.

How could I ever live without Peyton?

"Brooke?" came a sleep deprived voice. Mouth's hand landed on my shoulder, and I placed mine atop his.

"Hey," I whispered. He took the baby from me and put her on the bed.

"What's wrong?" he asked gently, crouching on the floor beside me.

"She's grown away from me," I said.

"No she hasn't. You guys have changed, doesn't mean you aren't still best friends," he said.

"Haley's her best friend."

"No she isn't. They're good friends, they have a lot in common but she's still your best friend," he said comfortingly.

"And she might be dying, and I can't do anything about it!" I burst out.

"She'll probably be okay. It's been hours, and if she was going to die I think we'd have heard about it by now," he said.

"How could Jake have the heart to do that?" I asked.

"Haley and Luke are there too. They'd have called if they knew anything," he said.

"I should be there too," I said.

"You should be here. Jake trusted you with Jenny, and she's the most important thing in the world to him. This is what Peyton would have wanted."

"You're talking as though she's already dead!" I called out in anguish.

"She's not. She and her baby will be fine, and everything will go back to normal," he said soothingly.

"I don't want normal! I want things to be the way they were!"

"That can't happen Brooke, you know that," he said.

"I love you. You're the only person I've ever loved," I said sincerely.

"That's not true," he countered.

"What?

"You were in love with Lucas, that's why it hurt so badly. However, you're the first person I've ever loved," he said. I smiled at him. Had I really been in love with Lucas? What was it about him that made him so irresistible, even years later? An image of him in his tux flashed guiltily into my mind. When I'd met Mouth, he'd been short and skinny. Now he was tall and skinny-gangly. This didn't make me love him any less, but glimpses of Lucas occasionally made me sad. I'd once thought that he was the best guy I'd ever dated. He'd turned out to be just the same.

"Maybe I was. I mean when I was with him, I felt more for him than I'd ever felt for anyone. And then he wanted me back-but only after he'd all but admitted he hadn't really liked me in the first place. What kind of person does that?" I asked. I saw him struggle-Lucas was one of his best friends.

"I don't get Luke with girls. He gets great, beautiful girls that loves him and he always ends up doing something jerky," he said.

"You're sweet," I said, leaning in to kiss him. His hand went to my hair and I suddenly recalled how gross it must be-I was still in what I'd been wearing at the wedding, but I knew my makeup would have been ruined because of the crying and that my hair had been up too long. How hard it must have been for Karen, to have the happiest day of her life ruined so completely. On Peyton's wedding day, Haley and Nathan had reunited. But realizing she still had feelings for Lucas, and to have those feelings stop her from doing it with Jake on their wedding night cancelled the first one out.

My cell phone began to play 'One, Two Step', by Ciara. I pulled away from him and reached for my purse, quickly withdrawing the phone. J Jagielski flashed on the screen with his own cell number underneath. I glanced at Mouth.

"Answer it," he urged.

"I can't," I whispered.

_Author's note: Obviously I have no claim to Brooke's ring tone. Remember, this only has ABOUT five more chapters. _


	14. NOT ACTUALLY A CHAPTER

_Author's note: I'll put up chapter fourteen (fifteen? The next one, anyway) on Monday, so don't worry about that. But very soon I'll start the third one, and I wanted to know if anyone has a special request, for one of those side plotlines or a couple or whatever, if it doesn't get away of my plan I'll put it in. Because I already have a plan, but I could do with some plotlines. And no, I'm not going to change it into a Leyton-sorry about that. So thanks for reading Early for Two, I'm predicting three or four more chapters._


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

My tongue felt stiff in my mouth from disuse. My head felt heavy, my body felt weak. It was a struggle to open my eyes, and once I did the room was so blindingly shut that I closed them again. After a long moment, I saw a heart rate monitor, the line steady. I glanced down with difficulty and saw my body wrapped tightly in a white sheet, and noticed I was wearing a hospital gown instead of my dress.

The room was void of people. Through the closed window I could see it was around midmorning. What had happened? Last thing I remembered was the church, and Jake's eyes.

Jake.

"JAKE!" I yelled into the room. My yell was little more than a whisper to my ears. A Doctor burst in through the door.

"Mrs. Jagielski, how are you feeling?" he asked, approaching the bed and checking my pulse.

"Jake. I want Jake, why isn't he here?" I asked.

"We advised against it. I'll get someone to go find him," said the doctor.

"Wait! What about my baby?" I said.

"By the early results, I can say that you'll both be fine," he said as he exited.

"Peyton," he said softly, entering and sitting on the bed, gently hauling my upper body onto his lap.

"Jake. I missed you," I said.

"We've all missed you," he said. I could see his eyes growing wet.

"Why? What happened? How long has it been?" I asked.

"Shh, you need rest. You collapsed at Karen's wedding, apparently you were doing too much. You almost lost the baby, they managed to stop it, you'll be fine if you take it easy. So they fixed everything and then they didn't wake you up so you could rest, and it's been two days and about six hours, twenty minutes," he said.

"Where've you been?"

"In a hospital chair. With Haley and Luke, they're both around. Jenny's with Brooke. How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Okay. Weird. Like I've died and been born again. By the way, what do you mean by taking it easy?" I asked suspiciously.

"Bed rest," he said apologetically.

"What? For four _months?_ Why the hell does Haley get to be so good at this?" I asked. He laughed.

"Nathan had to basically carry her home to get sleep-he's worried about her. Yeah, four months. Or less, if it all works out. Come on, we'll be fine. I'll keep Jenny out of your hair, Haley can spend the time with you I won't spend," he said.

"Pity visits? I'm a freakin' invalid. Do I have to stay here long?" I asked.

"No, you can come home," he said comfortingly. Home seemed like a blessing.

"Oh my God. I just remembered, I got a call from the dredging people," I said.

"I know."

"He's…"

"I know," he said quietly.

"For real?" I asked anxiously. Slowly he nodded.

"How?" I asked. I hadn't received the whole phone call. Did I want to know? Did I need to?

"Peyton, I should tell you later-the doctors said you can't get stressed out right now," he said.

"Tell me now," I demanded. I felt numb-my body wouldn't let me feel pain.

"Peyton…"

"Jake." I said firmly.

"There was a storm. He was on a transport, he fell somewhere off the coast of California. His crew couldn't see anything. They reported him missing as soon as they could, but…"

"So no one's found him? It could just be a mistake, right?" I said eagerly.

"It was a hurricane in the middle of the night. I'm sorry," he said. I shut my eyes tightly. Could it ease the pain? Could anything?

"So he's dead. In the bottom of the pacific ocean?" I asked.

"He loved the water," said Jake. I nodded.

"I can't believe it," I said. I tried to sit up, but Jake grabbed my wrists.

"No, don't. They don't want you to get up. They said if you even get worked up they're going to have to sedate you until you're more healthy," he said soothingly.

"How am I supposed to be calm about this?" I asked. He sighed.

"Peyton, all your father ever wanted was for you to be happy, to be loved, and to never be alone. Now that that's true, what life did he have?" asked Jake. I stared.

"What do you mean? He was about to have a grandchild!"

"A grandchild he'd never be able to form a real relationship with. Pey, you saw how he was last visit. Seeing you with me and Jenny, completely independent from him-it made him useless," said Jake.

"But I love him," I said.

"Yeah, and he loves you," said Jake.

A week later I was almost ready to go home. Jake had left only when I'd forced him to shower, Luke, Nathan and Brooke came daily. Haley was advised against it, because of the stress-and it drove her crazy.

Brooke came to see me the morning of the day I was scheduled to leave. I looked at her in surprise as she came and sat by my bed in a chair.

"What are you doing here? I'll be home in a couple of hours!" I said.

"I know, but I've got to go soon. And I want to talk to you," she said. She'd extended her visit home because of the events.

"What's up Brookie?" I asked. She sighed.

"We're growing apart," she said sadly.

"We are not. We talked on the phone every other day," I protested.

"Yeah, about makeup. Or boys, or hair. I have absolutely no idea what's going on in your life," she protested.

"It's harder when you're not around Brooke," I said.

"So you just want to give up on it? Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?" she asked. Her eyes skimmed to my prominent belly.

"I wanted to see your face when I told you," I whispered. Tears filled her beautiful brown eyes.

"Why? Because you thought I'd be mad? I'm happy for you Peyton," she said. She wasn't backing down.

"But you'd still rather it was you and me pregnant, not Haley and me," I said.

"Tutor-Wife would make a way better mom than me."

"Brooke, that wasn't my question," I said insistently.

"Yes! You're right! I wish we could go back to the way we were, or have kids at the same time like we'd always planned. I wish you could have come to college with me, or I could have stayed home. I wish Lucas Scott didn't exist, and I wish Jake Jagielski would keep his hands to himself!" she exclaimed.

"But not Marvin McFadden? Brooke you've changed too," I reminded her.

"I'm the same."

"You're not. You're better at relating to people, you're nicer to strangers, you care more about more things," I said.

"I'm growing up," she said tearfully.

"Yeah, just like I am! I just did it differently, because I had to!" I said. Sometimes I tried to forget that I'd married Jake out of necessity and how long it had taken for me to fall in love with him. Not long, really-just too long.

"But it turned out well!"

"This will too," I promised, reaching for her hand.

The stupid doctors were making me stay in bed all the time, so they wheeled me right out of the car and helped me in. When Jake pulled up to the house he came around to the side and carried me into the house and up the stairs, into our room. He'd installed the television, brought books and my computer within arms reach so I wouldn't really have to get up for four months.

_Four months._

Karen came to drop Jenny off soon after I arrived.

"Sorry I messed up your wedding," I said as she dropped Jenny onto the bed, who screamed my name and tumbled into my waiting arms. I inhaled her scent as Karen laughed.

"Honey, it's not your fault. How are you doing?" she asked.

"Well I feel weak, and scared, but I've actually been able to keep my thoughts away from Daddy for stretches of about five minutes at a time. I'll be okay," I said confidently.

"How's the baby?" she asked. I knew Karen would be the baby's grandmother, biologically or no.

"Fine. A bit small, but fine. I'm scheduled to start two weeks after Haley, which is nice. How are you and Keith?" I asked.

"It's perfect," she said honestly.

"That's great-our first weeks were kind of tumultuous. How's Luke with it?" I asked.

"You don't know?"

"He never talks to me anymore," I said ruefully.

"He will, eventually. He's fine-he's always wanted this, even before I realized that I did. But he had to go back," said Karen.

"You're lucky you have Keith, now that you're only child is gone," I said. She shook her head.

"No. I've said this before Peyton, but you and Haley are as close as I'll ever get to having daughters, and I don't regret any of it. If your child would regard me as it's grandmother I'd be honoured," she said, kissing my forehead.

"I guess I need a surrogate dad as well," I said, sadness seeping into my voice.

"You have Whitey," she said. On glance at her was all she needed-we both knew how old Whitey was getting.

"I'm lucky to have Jake," I said.

"Yes, you always have been," she said.

"And I always will be," I answered.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

"It's a boy!" came a voice triumphantly through the phone. I shrieked, and Jake came running, an open jar of tomato sauce in hand, a tea towel over his shoulder. I giggled as the phone clicked off.

"You worry too much. It was Nathan," I explained. He sighed in relief.

"Don't shriek like that, it scares the hell out of me. What did Nathan say?" he asked.

"A boy. Eight pounds, three ounces, Haley's fine. Where's Jenny?" I asked.

"She was in her chair when I was downstairs. Kind of immobile. How are you feeling?"

"Jake I'm bored," I said in irritation.

"Peyton…" he started gently.

"No! I've been lying here for four and a half months! I can only take a shower every three days so I'm filthy, daytime television is really bad, you have to take care of Jenny all the time and I'm freakin' huge!" I whined.

"You're beautiful. And taking care of an almost two year old is nothing compared to getting a baby out of you. I'm fine, and it'll be over soon," he soothed.

"Not soon enough. Why does Haley get to be so good at this? She delivered exactly on her due date. She never had to go the hospital in between, just the doctor. She was always glowy and cheerful and perfect," I said.

"Yeah in public. I've talked to Nathan," he said. I smiled in spite of myself.

"I want to do stuff," I said, refusing to give in.

"Like what?

"Not be pregnant. Go outside, walk, drink, have coffee, do stuff… you know with you," I said. He smiled.

"I want you to do all those things too, but it's going to be a while yet," he said.

"I can't last two weeks. Ooh, let's have sex to go into labour like on Friends! And then I can have the baby tomorrow and get drunk the next day and run around the hospital three times!" I said brightly.

"You do realize that you can't get drunk after the birth because of breast feeding, right? And I'm not going to have sex with you to bring you into premature labour, believe it or not that isn't such a good idea," he said. I wrinkled my nose at him as Jenny began to scream for her Daddy.

"Haley?" I said into the phone ten minutes later.

"Peyton! How are you?" she asked.

"What? How are _you_? What's he like? Did it hurt? When do you get to go home? Has anyone gone to visit you yet?" I asked eagerly.

"Oh, he's beautiful. A bit red, but all soft and so tiny, even though he's a big baby. Well we did that painkiller thing, but it was still pretty bad-the pushing and such. He has dark hair and blue eyes like Nathan's, and they already think he'll be tall," she said happily.

"I'm happy for you Haley. You and Nathan. Have you fed him yet?" I asked.

"Once. It hurt like hell. But he's so cute. I love him," she said.

"That's great. Jake's coming to see you. I would, but they won't let me, apparently it'd be bad for me. So come by as soon as you can, okay?" I requested. She'd spent almost the entire four months with me, minding Jenny while I rested and talking to me as much as she could.

"Of course. Your house first. How are you feeling?"

"Huge," I said gloomily.

"I understand that one. I know this is going to sound evil, but I'm so glad I'm not you right now," she said.

"I wonder if I'll have a boy too? I sort of hope so," I said. I already had a girl.

"Yeah, that's be cool. Then they could be best friends when they grow up, and we can buy the same clothes for them, and…"

"Haley that's just tacky," I said, laughing.

"You say this to a woman just out of labour!" she admonished.

"Yeah, well…" I said, bursting into laughter again. "Anyway, still thinking more than one kid?"

"Yeah. I don't want him to grow up alone, even if he has yours. But the sad thing is, I always hated how Taylor was four full years older-I always wished for my siblings to be really close to me in age," she said.

"So you want another in like two years?" I said in surprise. The thought had never crossed my mind.

"Yeah. And hey, you should too-then we could do it again, it's be awesome," she said.

"Like that'll happen again," I said.

A week later, exactly a week before my due date, I went into labour. It was February 22nd. By that same evening they'd performed a successful cesarean section.

Jake wasn't allowed to come into the room but as soon as it was out, a Doctor went into the hall and told him he had another daughter and that I was well. Much later, after I was sewn up again, he came in and they brought her to me.

At once I understood Haley. Because she was red and wrinkly. But her button nose, her closed eyes and her tiny mouth were perfect. Her baby feet, clad in the feet of her sleeper, were smaller than my hand.

It was the only love at first sight I'd ever experienced.

"We did good, huh?" I said, wiping a tear from my eye.

"You did good," he said, kissing the top of my head.

"You too. I love you so much," I confessed tearfully.

"I love you. And her. She's as beautiful as Jenny," he said.

"When Nikki gave birth to Jenny, did you love her just as much?" I asked.

"No. I've always loved you best," he said. I smiled.

"I hope we never have to see her again," I said.

"Me too. And Jenny, and this one. Are you sad that it wasn't a boy?" he asked. I'd had a slight preference for a boy, because Haley had had one and because we already had a girl.

"Over her? Are you kidding? She's perfect," I said, kissing the tip of her nose. She stirred, yawned and opened her eyes. I saw my first glimpse of them-they were dark blue, like all baby eyes.

"This turned out good," he said suddenly.

"Yeah. And I never, ever thought it would."


	17. Epilog

Epilog

"But I don't _want _to.I want to stay _here_," stated a four year old Jenny.

"Bunny we have to go. We're meeting Auntie Haley and Uncle Nathan and Sawyer at the park and they'll miss you if you don't come," I said encouragingly, kneeling down awkwardly to the size of my four year old daughter.

"Is Daddy coming?" she asked suspiciously. I slipped a white sunhat over her brown curls.

"Yes. And if you ask nicely, I'm sure he'll take you on his shoulders," I said. I felt only slightly guilty for bribing her. Her eyes lit up-ever since the birth of her sister, she'd been a sucker for any attention.

"DADDDY!" she screamed, turning to run toward the stairs. I caught her arm with my free hand.

"No sweetie, he's busy with Callie," I explained. She pouted.

"Duh. Like always," she said. I smiled, reached down and pulled her into my arms, holding her over my slightly pregnant stomach.

"You know we love you as much as we love Callie?" I asked her. If I'd given birth to Jenny like I had to Callie, I couldn't have loved her more.

"Not true," she insisted.

"True. You were just as much trouble as Callie is now when you were her age. I remember," I said, my eyes glazing over.

"Was not. I'm a good girl, right?" she said.

"Right," I said, setting her on her feet and taking her hand.

Jake was putting a diaper on a wriggling, protesting two year old Callie. When I entered with Jenny, the distraction bought Jake enough time to fasten the diaper on a set her on her feet as I straightened her pink sun dress. I fondly touched one of her white blonde curls.

"Okay, we set to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, we're good. How are you?" I asked.

"I'm fantastic. Now how are you, my beautiful wife?" he asked, stepping closer and folding his arms around me. I threw back my head to look up into his eyes.

"I'm fine. You worry too much," I said. He scoffed.

"Too much? May I remind you what happened last time you were at five months?" he asked. He tenderly placed one of his hands on my rounded belly. With one of my hands I covered Callie's eyes as he covered Jenny's and we leaned in to kiss.

"Gross!" protested Jenny as Callie giggled adoringly at her big sister.

Jake lifted Jenny onto his broad shoulders and I took Callie's hand. The four of us walked outside of the house into the June sunshine.

"Nathan we got to _go_!" I said in irritation, wrapping my last sandwich and placing it neatly into the wicker basket. I glanced over to the television-an NBA game was on, his eyes fast on it.

"It's almost over Hales!" he responded.

"But we'll be late," I protested.

"Come on. When in her life was Peyton Sawyer ever on time? They have two kids to get ready, we've only got the one," he reminded me. I rolled my eyes at his back.

"Who, by the way, isn't ready," I reminded him. "Sawyer, we have to get you changed. Come on."

My son turned around to face me, clad only in a diaper. I wilted at the sight of his blue eyes, so like his father's. And his dark hair. He'd be Nathan when he grew up.

"Not _yet_," he said impatiently.

"Sawyer Brian Scott!" I scolded.

"Haley let him watch, it's almost over," said Nathan distractedly.

"Not close enough. Come on," I said to my son. "You can see Callie and Jenny."

"It's just ten minutes! This is important."

"Is not," I said to my husband. "Dan Scott."

This caused Nathan to laugh and finally turned around and leapt over the back of the sofa toward me.

"Oh yeah? Can Dan Scott do this?" he asked, pressing me up against the wall and kissing me deeply. I closed my eyes, opened my mouth and relished the feel of him.

"You know, on second thought, ten minutes is just fine," I said. He smiled.

"I love you. Come on," he said, taking my hand and leading me to the sofa, where he sat me on his lap. Sawyer crawled over and leaned against his Dad.

"We have to be more gentle," I reminded him. He glanced at my stomach.

"Yeah. Hey, maybe this one will take your sides in arguments," he said playfully.

"She better," I said.

"He better."

"She."

"He."

"She."

"He. My decision, right?" he said.

"Unfair. Okay, game over! Sawyer, go get changed. Nathan, go shower," I ordered.

"Aye aye Captain Scott," he said as I got off and took my son to his bedroom.

The blast of the shower could be heard as I changed his diaper and put him in a pair of overalls and a red shirt and sneakers. It had taken a lot of practice for me to even do that-Peyton and I had done it together, sharing everything we learned along the way with Callie and Sawyer.

I remembered I'd said to Peyton once, years ago, that we'd do it together again. I'd be joking, she'd been scornful. But here we were, two years later, pregnant together again. She was only a month and a half ahead of me, and again it was a complete coincidence. But in this case, in both cases, it was planned.

As I finished combing his hair I kissed it and inhaled his scent. I hugged my son, and he put his small hands on my neck. For one of the few times since he'd learned to walk, I put him on my hip and we walked back to the main room together where Nathan was waiting, his hair still wet.

Nathan pushed Sawyer along the sidewalk in his fold up stroller as I carried the lunch and the diaper bag of his stuff. My hair blew around my face in the summer wind. As we walked, I briefly rested my head on Nathan's shoulder.

Nathan and Haley were noticed first by Jenny.

"UNCLE NATHAN!" she called. Callie retaliated in her baby voice:

"Auntie Haley!"

The three of them approached us and the four of us exchanged hugs before greeting each other's children. Jenny quickly took charge and herded her sister and Sawyer toward the sandbox. I dropped onto the wet grass, and Haley carefully joined me. As Jake say, I leaned onto him.

"They're huge," I remarked.

"Yeah. Remember how tiny Cal was?" asked Jake.

"She's still the smallest," said Haley, referring to my daughter's five pound birth weight.

"What I don't get is how she's blonde," said Nathan.

"I was natural when I was little, but never that blonde," I said.

"Jenny looks exactly like you, Jake," said Haley. I glanced at her, and shivered despite the warm air. Sometimes her dark, dark almond eyes made me fear something I could place."

"I can't believe I'm going to be a father of three," said Jake ruefully.

"Hey, your fault," I said.

"Planning. Takes two," he retaliated.

"You don't say-I thought I could just blame him," said Haley. Her new pregnancy was harder on her than her first had been-I hoped mine would be easier.

"Sure, if it makes you feel better," said Nathan.

The three of them continued to verbally spar as I laid my head on Jake's lap and looked at the cloudless blue sky and then around to the other families. To them, we looked like two families. But really, in the truest sense, we were one.


End file.
